National Politics

Things are going to drag on in the Senate for a few days. Bottom line: There is absolutely no sign right now that a standalone bill on $2,000 checks is going to get a vote on the Senate floor. It looks like McConnell is simply going to run out the clock. There were several opportunities

The Trump administration on Wednesday unveiled sanctions on a Venezuelan judge and prosecutor for their roles in the prosecution and sentencing of six US oil executives, collectively known as the “CITGO 6.” Judge Lorena Carolina Cornielles Ruiz presided over the trial and “ultimately sentenced each of the six US persons on charges of corruption with

Several of President-elect Joe Biden‘s nominees would make history if confirmed by the United States Senate to serve in top roles in his incoming administration. Since winning the election, Biden has made moves to carry out his campaign promise of building an administration that looks like and reflects the diversity of America. Vice President-elect Kamala

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell introduced legislation Tuesday to combine two additional demands from President Donald Trump to an expansion of direct stimulus payments as part of the Covid-19 relief package, raising Democratic concern the pathway for expanded stimulus payments would soon be short-circuited. The Kentucky Republican, shortly before adjourning the Senate on Tuesday afternoon,

President-elect Joe Biden’s explosive allegation this week that the outgoing Trump administration is throwing up “roadblocks” on key national security matters was a low-point for a transition plagued by mistrust, overseen by a sitting President uninterested in facilitating a smooth transfer of power. Afterward, Trump administration officials insisted Biden was stretching the truth when he

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s margin for error is slim on Sunday, when lawmakers return to Washington to officially usher in a new session of Congress and elect their new speaker. After serving 17 years as Democrats’ leader, Pelosi is running unopposed. But the looming threat of coronavirus paired with the Democrats’ smallest majority in decades

With just a few days left in the year, alarm bells are going off among health officials across the country over the slow effort to administer tens of millions of doses of Covid-19 vaccine by the end of the year. The federal government’s Operation Warp Speed had promised that 20 million doses would be administered

His mood darkened as soon as he walked into his members-only club Mar-a-Lago, three days before Christmas, according to multiple sources. The changes to his private quarters, many of which were overseen by his wife, first lady Melania Trump, were not to President Donald Trump’s liking, and he was mad about it, according to a

President-elect Joe Biden will explore making cuts to the country’s nuclear modernization program, potentially reversing Trump administration efforts to enhance America’s nuclear arsenal by developing new weapons. Instead, Biden intends to place greater emphasis on arms control, according to two transition officials and an outside adviser to the incoming administration. Any significant cuts to the

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris received the first dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine live on television on Tuesday in Washington, DC, and urged Americans to get vaccinated for the virus. “That was easy,” Harris said after receiving the shot in her left arm. “Thank you. I barely felt it.” “I want to encourage everyone to

All eyes are on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday. After the House overwhelmingly voted to both override President Donald Trump’s veto on the National Defense Authorization Act and to pass $2,000 stimulus checks, it’s Senate Republicans’ turn to navigate whether they’re willing to cross Trump in his final days in office. What to

President-elect Joe Biden is set to confront the slower-than-expected pace at which the Trump administration is administering coronavirus vaccines in remarks Tuesday afternoon, a transition official tells CNN. A transition official says the President-elect “will address the current Administration falling short on its pace for vaccinations” and lay out his own plan for vaccinating people

President Donald Trump and former first lady Michelle Obama are the most admired man and woman of 2020, according to a new Gallup poll released Tuesday. It’s the first time Trump has topped the list alone, ending a 12-year run by his predecessor, Barack Obama, with whom he tied for most admired in 2019. For

The House of Representatives on Monday passed a measure to increase stimulus checks for Americans under a certain income level to $2,000 after President Donald Trump championed the effort, sending the bill to the Senate where its future is less certain. The legislation, which passed with a 275-134 vote, comes a day after Trump signed

The House of Representatives on Monday voted to override President Donald Trump’s veto of the sweeping defense bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act, delivering a bipartisan rebuke to the President. The bill initially passed both the House and Senate with veto-proof majorities, but amid Trump’s continued opposition, it had been unclear if the

President-elect Joe Biden on Monday said his transition team has “encountered roadblocks” from political leadership at the Defense Department and the Office of Management and Budget as his advisers work with the Trump administration. “We just aren’t getting all the information that we need from the outgoing administration in key national security areas,” Biden said, after